Chunks Of Smashed Moon Detected in Saturn's Rings

A camera on NASA's Cassini spacecraft spotted wakes ahead of and trailing behind these fragments, where other ring material has been affected by the gravitational forces exerted by the pieces. The scientists called the fragments seen in this relatively narrow belt within Saturn's outermost ring "moonlets." They were not directly observed by Cassini, but the scientists inferred their existence because of eight propeller-shaped wakes. There is a scientific debate over the origins of Saturn's rings. These findings support the idea that the material that makes up the rings is debris from collisions involving moons orbiting the giant planet that has spread out over time.

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